6 Most Popular Twitter Ads of All Time Celebrate the app's 6th birthday with its greatest marketing hitsBy Tim Nudd

March 21, 2012, 12:24 PM EDT

Twitter, which celebrates its sixth birthday on Wednesday, hasn't exactly set the world on fire with its advertising. It's light years behind many tech advertisers—notably, Google—in the self-promotion department. Still, given the microblogging service's huge popularity, Twitter's ads get plenty of attention. After the jump, check out the six most popular through the years, as ranked by Unruly Media, which has a much larger ranking over on its site.

6

May 2011. Here's an example of Twitter's wacky approach. Many people would consider it a drawback if their mother used the same social-media network as them. Not Twitter, which celebrates it.

5

May 2011. A pretty straightforward demo spot focusing on Twitter's image capabilities. Nice use of the Brett Dennen song "Sydney," but the ad's dynamic screen shots move painfully slowly—particularly for viewers used to the much more vibrant use of the technique in spots like Google's "Dear Sophie."

4

August 2011. Twitter was roundly ridiculed for this spot, set on the day of the Virginia earthquake. A Twitter engineer, Danny Hertz, sits in a New York lunchroom when he gets a tweet about the earthquake—seconds before the shaking begins. The video (YouTube has barred the official version in the U.S. due to rights issues) came a week after the quake and was just hokey.

3

January 2012. Finally, a fun Twitter ad! This one was a recruitment video—a parody of the genre—with Ian Padgham and Jeremy Briggs marching into CEO Dick Costolo's office to present a goofy recruitment film he doesn't recall asking them to make.

2

December 2011. The top two videos on this list introduced then-new versions of Twitter.com. This one, from this past December, was another demo-heavy snooze fest.

1

September 2010. The most popular Twitter ad ever, this one introduced the fall-2010 revamp of Twitter.com. It mostly got away from screen shots, to emphasize that Twitter helps you live your real life more fully. Hardly a great creative ad, it has still racked up more than 4 million views.

AdFreak is a daily blog of the best and worst of creativity in advertising, media, marketing and design. Follow us as we celebrate (and skewer) the latest, greatest, quirkiest and freakiest commercials, promos, trailers, posters, billboards, logos and package designs around. Edited by Adweek's Tim Nudd.

Twitter, which celebrates its sixth birthday on Wednesday, hasn't exactly set the world on fire with its advertising. It's light years behind many tech advertisers—notably, Google—in the self-promotion department. Still, given the microblogging service's huge popularity, Twitter's ads get plenty of attention. After the jump, check out the six most popular through the years, as ranked by Unruly Media, which has a much larger ranking over on its site.

May 2011. Here's an example of Twitter's wacky approach. Many people would consider it a drawback if their mother used the same social-media network as them. Not Twitter, which celebrates it.

May 2011. A pretty straightforward demo spot focusing on Twitter's image capabilities. Nice use of the Brett Dennen song "Sydney," but the ad's dynamic screen shots move painfully slowly—particularly for viewers used to the much more vibrant use of the technique in spots like Google's "Dear Sophie."

August 2011. Twitter was roundly ridiculed for this spot, set on the day of the Virginia earthquake. A Twitter engineer, Danny Hertz, sits in a New York lunchroom when he gets a tweet about the earthquake—seconds before the shaking begins. The video (YouTube has barred the official version in the U.S. due to rights issues) came a week after the quake and was just hokey.

January 2012. Finally, a fun Twitter ad! This one was a recruitment video—a parody of the genre—with Ian Padgham and Jeremy Briggs marching into CEO Dick Costolo's office to present a goofy recruitment film he doesn't recall asking them to make.

December 2011. The top two videos on this list introduced then-new versions of Twitter.com. This one, from this past December, was another demo-heavy snooze fest.

September 2010. The most popular Twitter ad ever, this one introduced the fall-2010 revamp of Twitter.com. It mostly got away from screen shots, to emphasize that Twitter helps you live your real life more fully. Hardly a great creative ad, it has still racked up more than 4 million views.